The World’s Tallest Water Slide Is Closing Permanently After Tragic Accident

The world’s tallest water slide, the Verrückt, will be torn down after 10-year-old Caleb Thomas Schwab was killed on the ride in August.

Operators at Kansas’ Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, where the slide is located, released a statement announcing the official closing of the 168-foot-high slide this week.

“In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event,” they wrote. “We are parents and grandparents ourselves and many of us have ridden Verrückt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated.”

A police investigation found Schwab suffered a neck injury while riding with two women on a raft, according to Reuters.

The slide, which has a name that translates to “insane” in German, sent riders down 17 stories at speeds as fast as 50 miles per hour.

“In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy,” park officials wrote.